Safe
by TheRealRogue
Summary: Rogue and Gambit. Straight to the point: Sabretooth attacks and hurts a powerless Rogue, and he wants more than just punching her. Rated M just in case. A two chapters story.
1. Chapter 1: Prey

Warning: this chapter contains the description of a sexual assault. It's violent and even though, in my opinion, there are more explicit fanfictions and stories out there, if you don't want to read that kinda stuff, well, don't read this fic. Also, I want to say that, of course, I don't support or condone this kind of stuff, and I'm not trying to make it look interesting or something, with this fic. It is just that: fiction, a story about something that happens and that it's bad and horrible, but it occurred to me to write a fic with it. It's what villains do: horrible stuff. I had honestly never written anything like this, but here we go.

Chapter 1: Prey.

They were about 10 or 12 feet the ones Rogue's unexpectedly unable to fly body plunged, to land messily on the harsh metal floor.

And it hurt: her right knee started pulsing in pain right away, the side of her hip and elbows not doing much better.

It shouldn't be; she was invulnerable and could fly, plus those other things.

"Always expect the unexpected in the middle of a mission", Cyclops always said. But not this. Regions of her mind were more than ready to start operating on intensive mode about the cause, implications (how long would…?) and consequences of this. They were all shushed.

Rogue was on her feet already, running down the narrow corridor. Whether it be flying, crawling or by foot, she'd do her part of the job.

It wasn't long til she made it to the machinery room, which was supposed to be huge, but it was hard to tell how much, given the dim light around.

Now, she only had to take another corridor to-

"Well, well, well! Look what the, ahem, _cat _dragged in."

She froze, didn't even breath. Normally, she'd be cracking her knuckles right now, ready to… no, happy to punch this bastard to the next county and back.

"You smell good, frail. Always have."

But not now. She only had her wits (which were already a tad shaky at this point), to get through this.

"Gonna have to give you a closer sniff, how'd you like that?"

Rogue slid like a shadow to the nearest column and crouched behind some machines. The corridor she was to take was on the other side entirely, but that wasn't the number one priority anymore.

That sickening laugh again… going (or echoing?) from one place to the other, so fast she couldn't know for sure if there were dozens of machineries between them, or breathing over the back of her neck already.

"No need to run, girlie. Gonna catch you anyways."

Her jaw tensed, as she forced herself to swallow the two or three smartass comebacks that sprung to mind. Alright, the guy had heightened senses anyway, but the less of an edge she gave him, the better.

"Ahhh, no more running? Howza bout some flying? That's one of your things, ain't it?"

He was close, she could tell.

"And absorbing people or whatever you call it, that's another one."

Nothing around to try to hit him with.

"Too bad all of them tricks of yours are off, ain't that right?"

Only one choice left.

Here goes nothing.

Rogue sprinted out of her hiding spot and headed to the left, which seemed to be the opposite side of where his voice was coming from. She heard a roar that was like a wild animal's, and kept running.

"Never it be said I didn't enjoy a good chase, frail"

He was close enough. It was time.

Stop. Roll on the floor in the opposite direction, as he crashed against an array of industrial machines, tools and who knows what else. Back on her feet, run to the other side.

This was the totality of her plan. A short lived one, she knew it, in its effectiveness.

There was aisle after aisle of metal gear, as Rogue rushed as fast as her currently only human body allowed her to. The realization that not hearing him and therefore not knowing in the slightest where he was, was even worse than having to listen to his shit, hit her soon enough. He could be anywhere, he could-

"See, I was right. You smell even better up close".

She couldn't breathe.

Sabretooth's vicious eyes were gleaming like fire, as he held her up in the air by the neck.

She. Couldn't. Breathe.

She held onto his forearm with both hands, in a futile, mostly instinctive attempt to soften the grip.

She was chocking.

Several kicks reached their goal, but it was like kicking a wall.

"Wanna know what you smell like right now?" he rasped, bringing her closer to his sweaty face.

One, two, four knee strikes, with all of her strength. Nothing.

"You smell like fear, Rogue," he licked his sharp teeth: "And you smell like uncle Creed's dinner."

He tossed her against a pillar like a rag doll, and as much as the collision and landing hurt her bones, her lungs were thankful to finally receive some air.

And there was something else too: a crowbar right there.

To the head would have been better, but still, she achieved a pretty decent wound to the thigh, the metal going in, through and right out of his flesh.

"Fucking bitch."

In some kind of slow motion, Rogue saw his huge hands grab her head like a melon, then felt the smack against the concrete pillar, overwhelming any thought or any other sensation.

It was all blurry now. It felt wet and warm on her forehead. Everything was spinning and dark. From behind a curtain of red fog, she saw him rip out the crowbar from his leg and throw it away.

"Ol' Sabretooth can heal, you know? Can you? Hm?"

Her entire brain was throbbing insider her skull. She at last managed to say something:

"Fuck you."

He chuckled in her ear: "Howza bout the other way around, girlie?"

At first, her mind wouldn't make out exactly what was happening. Everything was just moving, sliding away. Then she was able to look up and front and saw herself being dragged by the ankle, pulled along the metallic floor.

She kicked, then tried to hold on to something, anything.

The void was pulling her down. What…?

Creed was pulling her, still by the ankle, up some stairway, her head and body crashing and hurting at every step.

She held onto whatever thing, maybe a step itself, but he snatched her away with ease.

"Gotta confess something to you, Roguey. I always thought you were kinda appetizing, even with the skank thing on your hair."

They finally reached even ground. She almost didn't realized they entered some kind of maintenance room.

"And I mean ever since your Brotherhood days, 'member that?"

There was a smack. He'd closed the door.

Shaking, Rogue attempted to sit up, then sensed her forehead; her hand came all smeared in blood.

"Ah'll kill yah."

He paid no mind to her threat and kept on pacing all around her.

"But there was always that pesky power of yours_. Can't be touched_ and all those shenanigans. Good thing we don't have that problem right now, don't you agree?"

Up until this point, it hadn't occurred to her. Maybe she was too used to be the untouchable one, and the super strong one. She'd never have to worry about finding herself in a situation like this one, with some revolting scumbag on top of her, struggling pointlessly, being helpless as her usually trusty powers had abandoned her, trying to find traces of them in her, in comparison, small muscles, hoping her skin would remember even if a little bit of how to protect her.

Stupid as it sounds, yes, it only now occurred to her that he didn't want to just punch her, fight her, maybe kill her, defeat her in battle, X-Man vs. villain style.

He wanted to…

He was going to…

"Let's see if you taste as good as you smell."

He pinned both of her arms to the ground, over her head. There was a crack, she could hear it clearly, and a stabbing ache in one of her wrists. With his free hand he went over her temple, then tasted her blood.

"Nice and sweet, just how I-"

She spat on his face. It just made him grin wider:

"Always the fiery one, ain't ya? Damn it, you're giving me a tremendous hard on, Rogue."

Her body didn't exist anymore. It was just a heavy, unbearable burden attached to her, as he licked her entire face.

_Kick him use your knees low blow Danger Room session training do something kick him_

From what seemed like another, maybe parallel universe, she saw him pull out his claws and rip off her X-Men uniform shirt.

_Kick him please kick him spit on him again scream_

"Now Imma give you a good reason to scream."

Tears merged with the blood of her face. He'd given her one raw clawing right across the torso. It burned like hell.

Hell's not even close.

_Scream maybe someone will come maybe they're all powerless anyway but it'd be a distraction at least keep struggling punch him scratch him pull his hair scream_

These shapeless ideas stumbled against each other in her mind, gaping at his hideous frame, licking and sucking the blood from the wounds on her chest and stomach.

"Now you be a good girl and stay still... No? Alright."

The world shook and bounced inside her head, outside of it as well, her cheek and jaw reaching levels of pain she'd never imagined would exist. It was like it was compensating all at once, for all of the pain her invulnerability had spared her over the years. The metallic taste of blood was in her mouth now, too.

She couldn't see or hear much. Only from far away, this image of him undoing the button and zipper of her pants and pulling them down, registered in some part of her brain.

_Kick_

She tried. She really tried with what was left of her strengths. And seems like it worked, cause he reciprocated with a fist to the gut that almost left her unconscious, this time for real.

Not possible to move anymore. It all hurt too much.

She did hear something: the clacking (_click, clack, clack.)_ of his belt as he undid it. And his laugh:

"Ain't this what you always wanted? I'm doing you a favor here."

She had to spit out some more blood, or else she would have chocked with it.

Then, everything went red.

Even redder. Purple?

Note: I pondered for a while about Rogue actually being kind of helpless without her powers against Sabretooth. Then I remembered that in the comics, he pretty much eviscerated Psylocke, a ninja telepath. So, yes, it wouldn't be too farfetched to think he'd be able to do this to a powerless Rogue.


	2. Chapter 2: Safe

Chapter 2: Safe.

There was a bang that shook the whole room and sent dust, random boxes and splinters flying in every direction. From her curled up position, Rogue half guessed, half deciphered a figure knocking Creed down. A shelf full of stuff collapsed somewhere, and she could hear their voices as the struggle went on:

"What's the matter, Cajun? You jealous a real man gonna give her what you couldn't?"

"Shut it, y' _connard_! Y' gonna pay for this!"

Another explosion and things falling all over the place. Grabbing her still throbbing stomach, she finally managed to sit up: blood; the red, open wounds in her chest; her pants still rolled down her left leg, below the knee; her right shoe, missing. With trembling hands, she fumbled around for something to cover her bare torso with, but who knows where the remnants of her shirt had ended up.

"Imma kill ya, you rat turd, but first I'll make you watch as I fuck her brains ou-"

He was cut short. Another boom made Rogue jolt and turn around just in time to see Sabretooth being thrown away with the expansive wave, hitting and smashing the wall and plummeting down the darkness outside.

For the first time, she focused her sight on Remy. He was still wielding the red sparkling bo staff, crimson eyes gleaming just as much.

Like he'd been holding his breathe before, he panted hard, then turned to see her:

"_Chere_…"

What was there to say?

She couldn't look up at him, only kept trying to cover herself with her arms.

"Ah'm fine, Ah'm fine" she blurted out as he rushed to her side: "It's okay, Ah'm-." She spat out more blood; her mouth wound was bad.

"Don't try t' talk. Here," he removed his trench coat: "Get your arm through."

"No…"

"I need you to get your arm through the sleeve, _chere_, I won't look, see?"

He put it the coat over shoulders and turned around a bit, enough to show his promise was for real. As much as it hurt to even breathe, let alone move, she managed to stick her good arm through.

"Ah'm fine."

"Ready? 'Kay."

He shut the front of the coat as well as he could, then pulled out what was left of her shirt from underneath whatever piece of rubble.

"I need you to hold this, Rogue, can you do that?"

"Yeah, Ah'm fine."

She held the piece of fabric against her bleeding, open forehead, just as he asked her to.

"Press hard, _oui?... Chere?"_

"Yeah?"

"Press hard."

"Okay."

She wasn't really pressing as hard as necessary, her hand and all of her body still weak and shaking. But it registered and sunk in: she was in Remy's arms now, he was carrying her away from this.

"Ah'm fine…" she muttered one more time.

From very far away, she heard him say: "...you're safe now."

(…)

"What the hell?! What happ…?"

"Did you lose your powers too?"

"Yeah, but Psylocke and Cyclops didn't."

"Neither did I."

"Jesus! What-"

"We need reckoning, people. All the wounded and powerless on the Black Bird, now! The rest of us, we're staying."

"Where's Kitty?"

"Here!"

"Who did this? Who flaming did this? Was him, wasn't it? 'Twas that animal? SAY IT."

"_Oui_. But he's mine."

"Logan, wait! You lost your powers, didn't you?"

"I didn't lose these."

_Snikt. _

"Wolverine!"

"Where's he going? We need to regroup-"

"McCoy!"

"My friend."

"Y' take care of her."

"Of course."

"Is that everyone?"

"Alright, we're leaving."

"My God, Hank! Who did this?"

"I don't know, but whoever it was, it won't go unpunished."

(…)

Beast was right, as usual. Toad, Avalanche, Pyro, some other characters and, yes, Creed too (or what was left of him, after Wolverine had the chance to _dance _with him), were delivered to the authorities and sent to a maximum security prison for the powered. Not without a harsh battle, for sure, but the ones that kept their powers were now back home, more than ready to relax and get their minds off of the whole thing.

Not Gambit. Not after what was done to her.

Was it even enough, sending him to prison? How long til he escaped or was conveniently released, to help some high-ups with whatever dirty job they needed done?

"Storm!"

She stopped in her tracks.

"How was it?"

"We made it in one piece." He had a deep cut in his jaw that needed to be taken care of, and there was dirt, grease or whatever else, on the majority of his uniform. Some of her blood, too. "How is she?"

"Nothing life threatening, at least. A broken wrist, bruises, contusions. Cuts. But she'll heal. I'm more concerned about her mental state. I hope it heals too. I…" Storm would usually never hesitate when talking. Her words were always precise and to the point. Usually. "I… know… what something like… this can do to someone. But she has _us_. We're her family. We're here to help and support her."

Remy nodded. What was there to say now?

"Is she in the med bay? Can I-?"

"She was, the whole day, but Beast and Cecilia sent her off to her room a while ago. She must be sleeping now, why don't you see her tomorrow? Let her rest?"

"Sure."

How does this kind of things happen? How, to people we see every day, people we care about? Storm, he never imagined. Who would…?

He couldn't even phantom how Rogue would feel right now. He hoped she was indeed asleep, escaping for a while from those memories that would for sure haunt her for a long time.

But Storm was right: she had them. She had _him_.

(…)

He took a shower, got dressed and no: sorry Stormy, he wouldn't just wait til the next day. He'd head to her room, knock on the door (he'd knock this time, usually didn't, which normally granted him a book or shoe to the head) and…

Now there was a knock on_ his _door.

The sight that greeted him on the other side made something inside of him sink: one arm in a sling, half of her face swollen, broken lips, stitches on her forehead. Her green eyes.

"_Chere_! I was about to go see you, we just came back."

"Yeah, Ah heard."

"Come on in."

She walked in slowly, a little bit like a robot, like everything hurt. And it did, in spite of the painkillers.

"Y' shouldn't be walking 'round, _hein_? Why don't you sit?"

She did.

There was a bandage on her chest, peeking out of her sweatshirt's collar. The wounds were deep an ugly, he'd seen them, and it gave him a pang in the stomach only to remember. He quickly looked away, back at her face.

"You…" _You okay?_ Please. "_Chere_, anything you need, anything you… if you want to talk or not talk at all, anything. I'm here. For what it's worth."

"Ah can't sleep". Her shoulders contracted in a shiver: "Ah keep thinking he'll show up all of a sudden-"

"He won't."

"-that he's hiding in the balcony or something, in the bathroom, and he'll storm in and-"

"He won't,_ chere_, we put him away for good, he won't be around ever again."

She nodded, attempting to convince herself. It was devastating seeing her like this: strong Rogue, invulnerable, badass Rogue, hurt and shaking in fear.

"Ah just… Ah felt… feel, so helpless without my powers. Ah'd never felt that way and Ah wonder if Ah could have done more, we've learnt some hand to hand combat with Logan and Betsy-"

"Yeah but you had your powers then."

"Ah really tried, Remy! An tried to fight but… he was too… strong and Ah always relied on my powers, maybe Ah should've learnt to fend for myself more without 'em, but Ah swear Ah really tried to push 'im away-"

"_Chere_, what you talking 'bout?" he crouched on the floor besides her: "Of course you did, you don't have to… explain that."

The sob she'd been containing finally escaped:

"…and if you hadn't… showed up, Ah…"

"But I did, Rogue. I did and here we are now. And we'll get through this, okay?"

Tears started to run down her bruised face:

"Ah wanted to thank you."

"You don't have to."

"Ah want to."

"_Chere_-"

"Please let me just say it, 'kay? Let me just say… thank you, please."

He hadn't been sure if it'd be okay to hold her or not, but when she crumbled over his shoulder, that was enough of a clue.

"Ah'm sorry…"

"What do you mean?"

"Ah'm sorry."

"You sorry what, what's that?"

"Ah'm sorry… you had to see me like that and like this and Ah'm sorry Ah caused all of this-"

"Rogue, no, look. Look at me. You didn't do anything to cause this, okay? Please don't say that again, cause it's not your fault. At all. You understand that?"

"Ah don't know, maybe-"

"Well know it: it's not your fault."

She nodded one more time and rested the good side of her head on his shoulder again.

"This won't happen ever again."

"You sure?"

"I swear. I won't let it happen. Ever again."

(…)

She had gradually sunk in a sort of stupor, sliding down from his hold, to the bed, from being drowsy to asleep. He wrapped her up with a blanket and with the other side of the thick bed cover, then sat across the room to see her outline against the nightlight.

One thing was for sure: it wasn't enough. Just taking a holiday to a fancy prison, enjoying work out facilities and three meals a day, maybe a pottery class once a week.

No. He'd take care of him. Later.

In the meantime, he'd be here.

(…)

For some blissful moments, she didn't remember anything at all, didn't even wonder where she was. But when she tried to move and waves of pain came rushing from every direction, it all hit her at once.

So she sat up, slowly, because her stomach still ached. There was a blanket covering her up, not hers; not her bed or her bedroom. But his. And he was there on the floor, right by her side, on an improvised mattress of blankets.

How could she get rid of these memories? She'd have to carry them around now, as a part of her. They were right there, flashing before her mind's eye in no specific order. She wanted to scrape them off of her, throw them up and away. Maybe if she had taken another corridor…

No. No turning back. It was all too real.

Well, fuck that. It was shit, but it's over. _You're safe now,_ she repeated to herself.

_You're safe, you're safe now. You're safe. _

He heard her muffled sobs. It wouldn't be the last time.

END.

Note: okay, I'd had this idea for a while and this week, I spent 3 entire afternoons writing like a maniac. It's done, and I think the end result is faithful to what I wanted to convey. Obviously I didn't want a sugar coated ending, but something that was both realistic and a bit hopeful too, highlighting the fact that Remy would be by her side to help her through, because he cares about her, they care about each other. Again, I had never written anything like this and I was kind of scared to put it out there, especially because I know it's a sensitive topic. But I wanted to put together this idea I had, make it into a story. So, thanks for reading!


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